i have been called to serve a mission for the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints for eighteen months in the nicaragua managua south mission. my family has agreed to post my weekly emails here, as well as any comments or posts they wish to add.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

el 13 de Abril

remember tang and the gorilla? well, tang here is a like kool-aid, urbdy gotta have some. five gallons of water, five tang, and 2 litros of sugar, and you have five gallons of happiness for any nicaraguan native. it's either tang, mango juice, this drink with water and a type of oatmeal, or soda pop to drink here. water is something saved for Hermana Gladis if I can at all avoid it. It's kind of been an unspoken rule for me here: try it, love it, drink/eat it all or try it, hate it, drink/eat it all. because the people here sacrifice their FOOD, which is not a lot, to share with you and it's the least I can do. the mom of Jose Javier, who I will talk more about, shared this with us this week, and everything minus the plaintain was delicious! it almost tasted like Grandma's Lake Powell Chicken.

tuesday we got to get up and go to a "reunión de nuevos" which means meeting of news in english. all of the missionaries that entered the field with me were their with our trainers. we had the opportunity to receive some guidance and also to verify our progress/training. i was one of about half of the missionaries that completed my 42 lesson plans for the 42 gospel principles in the 5Preach My Gospel lessons. Let me tell ya, it was a long process, but definitely worth the time. It's really nice to be able to pull scriptures out of a hat and use them in lessons. we talked about a lot of things, but one of my favorite take-aways was a comment made by President Russell: he asked Hermana Garfield who we are supposed to invite to come unto Christ, and who we are to contact. she replied, "chosen families." lovingly the response came, "no. your purpose as a missionary is to invite all to come unto Christ, talke with everyone, and that's how you find the chosen ones." i love the connotation in that, we don't get to make the decision who is chosen and who is not, we just get to be a hand in their conversion. and maybe right now, they aren't chosen and they aren't ready for baptism, but one day they will be. of the six baptisms i have been a part of, three of them were antiguos or old investigators who the missionaries had stopped visting. you read that right, only half of my baptisms have been someone cold contacted, first time ever talking with the missionaries.

and speaking of baptisms......

Jose Javier was so ready for baptism during his interview Friday, that the district leader decided we could baptism the following day! let me tell you how stressful that is! my companion was in alta gracia, on splits while I was working with the Sister Training Leader, and I had to get all the details put together because hermana gomez wouldn't be back until saturday afternoon, just six short hours before the baptism. i called sister gomez right after we left Jose Javier's house and together we got the water figured out (because we haven't had water in the church for two weeks!), who was going to baptism him, who was going to be there as a member of the bishopric, and calling of the young men I could think of to see if they could be there to support him. believe it or not, Jose Javier is 14 years old, and is all ready a great example for his sister, who has a baptismal date for the 25th.

and now for mom's favorite part: questions!

What had been your biggest challenge this week? my right foot is really bothering me, and the pain is making walking rather comical for hermana gomez. i have tried the last couple of days to just work through the pain, but yesterday was a little much, so i caved and took some tylenol to help the pain.

What has been your biggest concern? our baptism for this week, who needs to put a ring on it, but she's underage, so we are working with our beloved friend, Howard, to get it all squared away.

What has been your biggest success? handling the situation of Jose Javier for the most part rather calmly, and not freaking out about the stress of it all.

Who has been your favorite person this week and why? Jose Javier, and can you guess why?

What has been your most significant tender mercy? the opportunity to read Jesus the Christ and nurture my relationship with Him through learning more about His life.

What are you looking forward to this coming week? another baptism! and some better health

Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it? as a companionship, we have a goal to use more the points of Preach My Gospel in our teaching efforts

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week? doctrine and covenants 18:10, 14-16

my purpose is to cry repentance to all people, not just those who i choose. my purpose is to invite all and follow the Spirit to find those chosen few.

may god be with you til i write again,

the tennesse hermana

this is Elizabeth, the mom of Andres, the little boy whose picture I sent a couple of weeks ago with my tag. Elizabeth is probably my favorite ward member, and is currently preparing to enter the temple!